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CONFIDENTIAL emails reveal Australia's food regulator discussed hiding from the Federal Government international warnings about a potentially dangerous chemical used in plastic bottles.
 The chemical, Bisphenol A (BPA), is found in plastic packaging. Latest research in the US says it may harm brain development and the prostate gland.
Australian stores last week began a voluntary phase-out of plastic baby bottles containing the substance, but Food Standards Australia New Zealand has long declared it safe.
A draft report to Parliamentary Secretary for Health Mark Butler includes comments indicating that the agency considered covering up international concerns.
"Maybe too sensitive for the Minister to see," one comment says. Another comment, on industry moves to phase out products containing BPA, warns: "Would delete this - we do not want to be encouraging withdrawal of something we deem safe."
The emails were written in January, at the same time as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched new research into the safety of products containing BPA.
"We have been quoting FDA as saying no health risk and now they have changed this, which makes us all look a little vulnerable," a Food Standards officer said in an email to a Canadian regulator.
The official sought a European regulator's reponse to the US move, as Australia was saying BPA was safe "even in infants".
Food Standards has not changed its stance since the emails were written, but has launched an investigation into the use of BPA in a range of products.
The study is expected to be completed soon and ready for publication in October.
Australia has no laws regulating materials used in food packaging, only an industry standard.
Food Standards chief scientist Paul Brent told international regulators in January that, despite calls for a BPA ban, no government agency here had full responsibility.
Jurisdiction in Australia is shared by Food Standards and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which regulates packaging safety.
The documents were obtained using Freedom of Information laws by the Australia Institute, whose executive director, Richard Denniss, said they suggested that Australian agencies were more worried about the politics than the science."We don't know what's safe and what's not, but it's obvious that neither do they," he said.
Dr Brent told a Senate committee hearing Food Standards was in close contact with the FDA, but the emails show the agency had no advance warning that the US body was so concerned that it was going to overturn its position on the safety of BPA.
Renee Eyles, 27, said she had used BPA-free baby bottles to feed her month-old son Ethan after learning about the health risks of BPA two years ago.
"It's a bit ridiculous that, after all these years of people using one product, especially on their kids, we just find out there's this horrible chemical in it," Ms Eyles said.
"We were really upset, because we'd been feeding our other son for a year and a half with bottles that apparently cause cancer.
"You really can't put a price on it. It's your child. You want the best for them.
"You've got to think about whats best for your children and if they're going to tell you that the old bottles are going to cause cancer cells then obviously, the best thing to do is change."
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